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There are eight planets within the Solar System; planets outside of the solar system are also known as exoplanets. As of 6 September 2024, there are 5,756 confirmed exoplanets in 4,297 planetary systems, with 963 systems having more than one planet. [1] Most of these were discovered by the Kepler space telescope.
The observable universe contains as many as an estimated 2 trillion galaxies [41] [42] [43] and, overall, as many as an estimated 10 24 stars [44] [45] – more stars (and, potentially, Earth-like planets) than all the grains of beach sand on planet Earth.
Currently, there is strong consensus among astronomers that five members of the Kuiper belt are dwarf planets. [197] [202] Many dwarf planet candidates are being considered, pending further data for verification. [203] Pluto (29.7–49.3 AU) is the largest known object in the Kuiper belt.
Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn were identified by ancient Babylonian astronomers in the 2nd millennium BC. [7] They were correctly identified as orbiting the Sun by Aristarchus of Samos, and later in Nicolaus Copernicus ' heliocentric system [8] (De revolutionibus orbium coelestium, 1543) Venus. 2nd Planet.
Main article: Solar System. According to the IAU definition, there are eight planets in the Solar System, which are (in increasing distance from the Sun):[2]Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Jupiter is the largest, at 318 Earth masses, whereas Mercury is the smallest, at 0.055 Earth masses.
The 1007 multiplanetary systems are listed below according to the star's distance from Earth. Proxima Centauri, the closest star to the Solar System, has three planets (b, c and d). The nearest system with four or more confirmed planets is Gliese 876, with four known. [citation needed] The farthest confirmed multiplanetary system is OGLE-2012 ...
A planet in the Solar System beyond the asteroid belt, and hence refers to the gas giants. Pulsar planet: A planet that orbits a pulsar or a rapidly rotating neutron star. Rogue planet: Also known as an interstellar planet. A planetary-mass object that orbits the galaxy directly. Superior planets: Planets whose orbits lie outside the orbit of ...
Several other planets, such as Gliese 180 b, also appear to be examples of planets once considered potentially habitable but later found to be interior to the habitable zone. [ 1 ] Similarly, Tau Ceti e and f were initially both considered potentially habitable, [ 65 ] but with improved models of the circumstellar habitable zone, as of 2022 PHL ...